Doc Rivers, Sixers impressed with Isaiah Joe as preseason wraps up

The Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up the preseason on Friday when they fell to the Detroit Pistons on the road 112-108 in the Motor City. The final game of the preseason is more of a meaningless game as everybody is anxious to move on to the regular season, but it’s time to look back at the exhibition slate.

One of the biggest performers for Philadelphia in the preseason was young guard Isaiah Joe who shot the lights out in the preseason. After finishing up 4-for-7 from deep on Friday, he finished the exhibition schedule shooting 61.5% from deep which is an insane number.

“Isaiah, we call him a flame thrower,” said coach Doc Rivers after the loss. “Give yourself a chance. That’s what we keep telling him. He’s range-less.”

On top of him being able to just flat-out shoot the ball, Joe is doing other things. He has been able to move without the basketball to find open spots on the floor and he has been putting the ball on the floor as well and becoming a bit of a playmaker.

“He can shoot the ball, but what I still like is that he’s finding places to shoot the ball, he’s moving well without the ball, he’s putting the ball on the floor, and he defends,” Rivers added. “He sticks his nose in there so that’s good.”

Ultimately, the Sixers want him to shoot the ball as that is his main role on this team so the 61.5% shooting is always a good thing to build off.

“If he gets those same shots in the regular season, he’ll shoot 60% in the regular season,” Rivers stated. “He can just shoot the ball.”

If one asks Tyrese Maxey, he thought Joe was shooting even better than the high percentage he shot.

“Isaiah Joe is shooting at least 70% from trey, right?” Maxey asked. “Oh, yeah, it’s just 60.”

Maxey, who came in the same draft class as Joe, has been seeing this type of work ethic all the time and this type of shooting from him. None of this is anything new for the young guards.

“I expect nothing less,” Maxey added. “It’s remarkable to watch him work out, to watch his work ethic, he’s in the gym early morning, late at night, so I’m not surprised at all. No one really talks about his defense, everybody talks about his trey balls and different things like that, but he’s one of the best competitors defensively on our team.”

The Sixers will need Joe to now carry this over into the regular season as the speed of the game will be different and he’s going to have to make another adjustment.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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